Jim Herd Reveals Attempt to Sign Randy Savage to WCW During His Tenure as EVP

– Speaking to Conrad Thompson for AdFreeShows, former WCW Executive Vice President Jim Herd discussed his attempts to sign Macho Man Randy Savage to WCW during his tenure as head of the company, which ran from January 1989 to early 1992. He didn’t say exactly when he made an offer to Savage, but he offered him half a million dollars and was even looking to go even higher before he was shut down by another Turner Ent. executive. He stated the following (via Fightful):

“Savage was so popular with young kids. We tried to get Savage from Vince. [Jack Petrik] was at this meeting, and he couldn’t go any higher, although I would have. I offered him half a million dollars and Petrik shut it down. Petrik was my boss, through Turner, and I would have gone higher. I thought he would have revolutionized our younger viewer and Petrik didn’t want to bust the budget.”

Randy Savage would eventually go on to sign with WCW some years later after Eric Bischoff had started running the company, making his debut in December 1994. This was after WWE had started phasing Savage out of his in-ring role and transitioning him into becoming an on-air broadcaster.